Hearing aids that are in the behind-the-ear style require microtubes to carry the received and amplified sound to the sound transducer placed in the ear canal. The sound receiving and amplifying equipment is placed behind the ear to keep it hidden as much as possible; the sound tube is shaped to bend around the upper part of the external ear to keep it out of site.
Microtubes are made of soft plastic that can be shaped easily to fit around the external ear structure. The plastic is firm and holds its shape at room temperature, but will bend easily when heated. At the time when the hearing aid is fitted to a customer by an audiologist or other hearing aid specialist, the primary means for shaping such microtubes is applying a measured amount of heat to the tubes and bending them by hand.
There currently exists no means of applying such localized heat to a microtube for audiologist office use. The present invention is a specialized heater with a small-bore flume that addresses this function. The heater enables the hearing aid fitter to place the microtube close enough to an open heat source so that the tube bends without melting the plastic of the tube.
There are several designs for such heaters, and they all suffer from certain design limitations. The present invention is designed to address some of these limitations in an inexpensive stand-alone mechanism that is easy to use.